I can't open half of my Tiff's.

I am trying to compile a portfolio for a job interview I have next week. I

have just tried to access for the first time since I finalized a CD files I

have saved from...nearly 4 years ago. More then half the images on this CD

won't open in windows or in photoshop. Nothing appears to be wrong with these

files nor does their appear to be any difference between those that will open

and those that won't - except for the error message that pops up when I try to

open the inaccessible files in photoshop ("Could not open xxx because a jpeg

marker segment length is too short" or when I try to open a Tiff "could not

open xxx because it is not a Tiff file" [though these files were all saved

correctly in Tiff format])

 

Any insight on how I might access these files would be much appreciated :)

How were the CD's stored? They could have degraded, such things are known to occur.

Uh-oh. Sounds like you've got corrupt files--possibly the CDR is failing. I would try another CD drive first, then some recovery software. Do you still have the drive on which the disk was burned?

A long shot: when you have large files in big directories it can take a long time for the operating system to assimilate all the information. You have to watch the hard drive light in your computer (assuming there is one, and if it indicates activity, you just have to wait, In XP pro there is no indication that the operating system is trying to read the files when you have a large directory but the key is the hard drive light. You may have to wait a long while before the files open. PS also requires lots of RAM and you may have a RAM problem as well. Of course the files can also be corrupted and the CDs sometimes are defective. Try also to open the files in another computer.

Julio

www.wetmounting.com

Before you believe the images have become corrupt, try using Photoshop's "Open As" option

for the problematic images and try JPG instead of TIF. It is remotely possible that some of the

images with .TIF extensions are actually .JPG files. Try that before you freak out.

 

Best of luck.

Perhaps a different viewer may be able to open the files, I'd try Irfanview to name one.

I've been making CDs sincd 1994. If I can't read a CD, it is because it was recorded poorly or has been physically damaged (even a small scratch in the reflective layer). I have no signs of "fading" in this short period of time. Arrhenius testing is a valid predictor of longevity, and indicates discs will probably last much longer than the means to read them.

 

It is important to do a read-after-right check on every disc you use for archiving images. That alone will not guarantee good results, since you can have an high error rate and still pass. You need to use good media (e.g., MAM or Taiyo Yuden) and good equipment. If possible, check the error rate from time to time.

There was at least one test some guy in Germany or something did (I never could read the original) where CDR's faded quite rapidly. I think it may have stemmed from the sotrage conditions as he just sorta shoved his test disks into a stack in a kitchen cubbard in between tests. To me that seems to imply entrance of moisture might be a possible source of deterioration.

Bit of a hopeful long shot but are you trying to open your images using the same programme which created them? I have had problems with programmes which will not open compressed TIFF and others which will not open large uncompressed TIFF.

 

On the downside, I have also had problems caused by burning the CD at too high a rate for my computer.

To see if it is an issue you are having with your CD or CD player, try copying the files to (say) your desktop first, and then open them from there.

 

However, I must tell you that it happened to me to record a DVD, read it after recording, and it was OK, and a couple of months later some TIFF files in it would not open. The DVD player was not giving any CRC error, and I could read the files, but the content was corrupted, and Photoshop and Picture Window Pro would issue an error and not read them. Only thing that saved me is that I make two copies of every CD/DVD. Better safe than sorry.

download a cd test programme (type cd error testing into google) and find out the level of c1 and c2 errors on your disks. It's a good discipline to always use good media, a good drive and to test them with this programme before storing. Unless they were cut properly in the first place, they can never be longlasting.

I have had a similar experience. A CD-R with 26 TIFF files on it, burned in 2004 worked fine, with all files accessible until two months ago. Suddenly I could not access the last 13 files on the disk. Tried it in 3 different CD/DVD drives, also in a different computer. Tried recovery software. I have concluded that the disk must have been damaged and plan to make redundant backups from now on. If you do find a solution or recovery software that does the trick be sure to let us know!